Jane Speed

(1838-1878)

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At a Glance

Jane Speed was the cousin of Nannie Taylor Speed  who also attended the Burwell School. The Speed ancestors attended St. John's College, Oxford, England and were medical doctors. The Speeds came to America in 1695 and served in Revolutionary War and were instrumental in beginning churches in Virginia. Jane's paternal grandfather, John Henry Speed, ran a spa and sold Buffalo Spring water. Jane's maternal Strachan ancestors came from Scotland where they were barons who in 1625 supported Charles I of Kincardshire.

Story

Jennie Speed appeared to have been sent to the Burwell School following the death of her mother, Ann Strachan Jones. According to the The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South [1], she attended the Spring term of 1852 and her roommates were Elizabeth Coit  and Mary J. D. Wortham . During the summer of 1852, Elizabeth Coit  died at the school. In a letter from 1856, Mrs. Burwell (Margaret Anna Robertson) noted that at Maria Howerton's wedding in Hillsborough Jennie was  "cool"  toward her, but that Jennie's father, John Joseph Speed was  "polite."  After her father's second marriage to Cynthia Anne Tunstall, Jennie remained at Rose Hill Plantation where she was listed on the United States Census of 1860 [2] as 22 years old. She married William Townes Boyd later that year and likely moved to her husband's home in Boydton where her son Alfred Boyd was born in 1869 [1] [2] [3].

Biographical Data

Jane was called Jenny.
She was also called Jennie.

Important Dates

Jane Speed was born in 1838, in Rose Hill Plantation in Granville County, NC. She died in 1878.

Places of Residence

• Rose Hill Plantation in Granville County, NC, from 1838.
• Covington, TN, between 1870 and 1878. Jenny Speed and William Boyd moved from Virginia to Tennessee c. 1870, as her first four children were born in Virginia and the second four in Tennessee.
• Boydton, VA, between 1860 and 1870.
• Burwell School, in 1852 [1].

Schools Attended

• Burwell School, from 1852. Jenny Speed attend the Burwell School, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC, USA during the Spring term of 1852.
• unknown, from 1850. Jenny Speed attended an unknown school, as she was listed in the United States Census of 1850 [4] as  "in school." [4]

Relatives

• Parents: John Joseph Speed (1803-1870) and Ann Strachan Jones (1808-1850).
• Spouse: William Townes Boyd (1837-1916), married on November 28, 1860. in Granville County.
  Children:
  
  • three sons, Alfred Boyd (b. 1869), Willie Boyd (b. 1872) and Bertie Boyd (b. 1873).
  • five daughters, Lizzie Boyd (b. 1862), Nannie Boyd (b. 1865), Jennie Boyd (b. 1868), Mary Boyd (b. 1870) and Rosa Boyd (b. 1871).
• Paternal grandparent: John Henry Speed.
• Maternal grandparent: John Wesley Jones.
• Siblings:
  • four brothers, Henry Goodridge Speed (1845-1864), John Speed, Robert A. Speed (b. 1831) and John S. Speed (b. 1835).
  • four sisters, Isabella Speed (b. 1841), Rosalie Speed, Sallie Speed (b. 1833) and Nannie Speed (b. 1848).
• Cousin: Nannie Taylor Speed (1836-1909) .
• Others: James G. Speed (half-brother, b. 1868), S. Ida Speed (half-sister, b. 1860), Thomas G. Speed (half-brother, b. 1862) and William Henry Speed (half-brother, b. 1865).

References

1. Mary Claire Engstrom. The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South. (Hillsborough: Hillsborough Historic Commission, 2007).
2. United States Census of 1860.
3. Thomas Henry Speed, III. The Speed Family of Virginia and North Carolina. (Oxford, N.C.: James D. Speed, 2002).
4. United States Census of 1850.